Thanks very much for everyone's thorough input and suggestions so far.

Ok here's my plan as of now: First I'm going to clean the lenses with a Meguiars headlight restoration kit, check the ground wires on the battery terminal and then adjust the height of the lights, as I wonder if they are aimed too low. See where that gets me.

If that doesn't do the trick I am seriously considering the Retro Solutions HID kit that Raidernation mentioned. Looking around the net it looks like they do have a good reputation for high quality kits. The cheaper off-road bulb solution seems like a bit of a hack and I also didn't like the fact that the bulbs look like they only last around 200 hours. That's way too short. Don't want to keep replacing them every few months, and it looks like the Retro solutions kits are only about $170 or so, which actually seems cheap to me to convert the car to HID lights. Heck I think the Sylvania ultra bulbs were around $40 alone. With regards to the legality issues, I'm guessing it won't really be a problem if you use a quality kit that is installed and aimed properly, unless maybe a cop is having a bad day and targets you for some reason.

Questions about a Retro Solutions kit:

1.) Someone mentioned before you should not put HID's in stock reflectors? Is that true and if so how does their kit work around this?

2.) On their 55w Digital kit I was looking at, it stated at the bottom: "Recommended: -Relayed wiring harness is recommended for use in vehicle applications where otherwise not included." Not sure what that means but do I need one?? I did select the vehicle "2000-2007 Ford Focus" which added $22 to the price, so I am not sure if it includes it, if needed?

3.) Which bulb fitment do I select? is it "9007/HB5 bixenon low/high beam"??

4.) How difficult is the install and how long does it take? Are their step by step instructions with pictures somewhere?

5.) Any other additional parts or special tools needed?

6.) And this is very important: Do you have a lot people flashing you with this 55w kit installed in your 07 Focus because they think you have your high beams on? We live on Long island and there is a LOT of traffic. We would be pissing 100's of people off every time we drove it at night or in the rain, and we definitely don't want that. Would we be better off with just the 35w kit? Or is it all a matter of if they are aimed properly it's not an issue?

7.) Do you need to get the fog lights too, or can I just get the headlamps?

Thanks,

Kevin

The HID 55 kit likely requires a "relayed wiring harness" for the same reason as the 80/100 filament kit. Both systems will draw more current than stock low beams, so the power cabling must be upgraded to supply more current.

I would consider the HID 55 conversion to be more of a hack (modification) than higher wattage bulbs because the higher wattage filament bulbs do not require a supplemental ignition system. Both need a relay and bigger wire. The stock reflectors are designed to work with filaments, not HID. The optics are wrong, so the sharp horizontal cut-off you see on premium cars will not be possible. They have auto leveling and cut-off for a reason and it's why they are legal on OEM. The retrofit HID low beams will be crude and rude (no horizontal cut-off). This is why many police consider them a hack deserving a ticket.

I'd caution you from using 55w HID's for the reason mentioned by another poster. 35W HID's are noticably brighter and more noticable than stock, so you are putting yourself at risk of getting a ticket due to combining primitive retrofit optics with too many lumens (excess brightness). There's far more to the sophisticated OEM HID's than just more whiteness and brightness. It's all about optics and the aftermarket HID's fail miserably in that area.

Obviously made by "yet another" asian parts importing company making false claims of DOT certification. It's done ALL the time....it causes the biggest risk on stuff like wheels or high strength bolts with fake markings that can catastrophically break and cause a serious wreck. No prominent (popular) HID aftermaket company states DOT certified because it's totally impossible. It may take a while for them to get hauled into court and sued. They are not legal despite claims otherwise.

Whether you will get ticketed by the police is anyone's guess....Halos and HID's on '05-'07 Focus stick out like a sore thumb and say "stop me" to any cop having a bad hair day or bone to pick. If you want OEM bright headlights or even brighter, you can do it cheaper and attract far less attention from cops with standard filaments and assemblies. That said, there are plenty of folks running around with illegal mods and getting away with it. Excessively dark window tint, headers without carb certification, custom one-off turbo setups and deleted catalytic converters come to mind. The problem with this mod from a cop ticketing standpoint is it's a big red flag (not hidden). Some people think it's worth it and others don't.

Ok guys, I did the 3M headlight restoration (It wasn't meguairs, i forgot I bought a 3m kit for the record.) and here is the passenger side before restoration (although there is a smudge where I put the 500 grit for a second before deciding to take pictures. And the drivers side headlight after restoration:

Ok guys, I did the 3M headlight restoration (It wasn't meguairs, i forgot I bought a 3m kit for the record.) and here is the passenger side before restoration (although there is a smudge where I put the 500 grit for a second before deciding to take pictures. And the drivers side headlight after restoration:

Ok so just adjusted each headlight up more and then my girlfriend took it out for a ride. When she came back she said "it's a 1000x better"...she said still no where neatr my headlights, as to be expected but much much better. So it looks like that did the trick for now. Hopefully no need for any "rude" setups! :)

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